So what is this show about?
I’m now just about three months out from my solo performance, Trans Form.
And I’m still not entirely sure what the show is about. Which is starting to stress me out.
Obviously, the general performance is still about me, my transition, thoughts on being trans, gender, and so on. But that’s not really a show.
Which isn’t to say Trans Form needs to have a strong linear narrative, or a “plot,” per se. But audiences watch shows from beginning to end and I’m not quite avant garde enough to stand on stage for another without some sort of arc or feeling of completion or finality at the end.
So what is my show about?
With my last piece, Ares and Aphrodite, I stumbled upon the idea of using a mythic element – Greek gods Ares and Aphrodite – to sort of bookend the story or create a nice through-line against which everything else was set. But I’m continuing to bang my head against a wall with Trans Form, because I’m just not coming up with anything I like. Even the title was sort of a compromise of, “Well, I don’t really have a show yet, so I’ll do something that’s vague, without being too vague.”
I’ve tried to use the title as an idea in and of itself, thinking about what the prefix “trans” means, what forms different things take. Of having little presentations throughout the show, between every few sections, discussing trans fat, the trans-Atlantic cable, the transitive property, filling out forms, proper form, and so on. Obviously, everything would need to be linked somehow to transitioning or trans issues, perhaps subtly at first and then more and more obviously. I need to do more writing on this idea (stay tuned for future posts…) but I’m not sure it’s what I’m looking for.
Beyond that, I feel kind of stuck. A lot of my energy right now feels like it’s been devoted to trying not to highlight how “trans” I am, so working on a show that inherently requires that is kind of exhausting. I’d love any thoughts – about the above idea or about other lines of thought to pursue – if anyone has any, because I’m feeling some major writers’ block.
Themocracy